柿子 Persimmon

柿子 ( Diospyros kaki ) 原产于中国，栽培已有一千多年的历史。栽培品种约有900个以上。柿属植物全世界约有400种，其中中国有64种。

柿子有养肺胃、清燥火的功效。可以补虚、解酒、止咳、利肠、除热、止血，还可充饥。柿饼具有涩肠、润肺、止血、和胃等功效。  脾胃消化功能正常的人适合食用。

柿子的营养成分十分丰富，与苹果相比，成分均是柿子占优。柿子还有一个特点就是含碘 ( Iodin ) ，所以因缺碘引起的地方性甲状腺肿大患者，食用柿子很有帮助。

* value per 100g Nutrients unit persimmon apple Proximates Water g 80.32 85.56 Energy kcal 70 52 Protein g 0.58 0.26 Total lipid (fat) g 0.19 0.17 Carbohydrate g 18.59 13.81 Fiber, total dietary g 3.6 2.4 Sugars, total g 12.53 10.39 Minerals Calcium, Ca mg 8 6 Iron, Fe mg 0.15 0.12 Magnesium, Mg mg 9 5 Phosphorus, P mg 17 22 Potassium, K mg 161 107 Sodium, Na mg 1 1 Zinc, Zn mg 0.11 0.04 Vitamins Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid mg 7.5 4.6 Thiamin mg 0.03 0.017 Riboflavin mg 0.02 0.026 Niacin mg 0.1 0.091 Vitamin B6 mg 0.1 0.041 Folate, DFE µg 8 3 Vitamin B12 µg 0 0 Vitamin A, RAE µg 81 3 Vitamin A, IU IU 1627 54 Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) mg 0.73 0.18 Vitamin D ( D2 + D3 ) µg 0 0 Vitamin D IU 0 0 Vitamin K ( phylloquinone ) µg 2.6 2.2 Lipids Fatty acids, total saturated g 0.02 0.028 Fatty acids, total monounsaturated g 0.037 0.007 Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated g 0.043 0.051 Cholesterol mg 0 0 source : USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference

食用功效

性味：味甘、涩，性寒。

归经：归肺经。

功能：清热去燥、润肺化痰、软坚、止渴生津、健脾、治痢、止血。

主治：慢性支气管炎、高血压、动脉硬化、内外痔疮患者的天然保健食品。可以缓解大便干结、痔疮疼痛或出血、干咳、喉痛、高血压等症。

柿子叶子煎服或冲开水当茶饮，也有促进机体新陈代谢、降低血压、增加冠状动脉血流量及镇咳化痰的作用。

食用禁忌

1、空腹不能吃柿子。

因柿子含有较多的鞣酸 ( Tannin ) 及果胶 ( Pectin )，在空腹情况下它们会在胃酸的作用下形成大小不等的硬块( persimmon bezoars / diospyrobezoars )，如果这些硬块不能通过幽门到达小肠，就会滞留在胃中形成胃柿石，小的胃柿石最初如杏子核，但会愈积愈大。如果胃柿石无法自然被排出，那么就会造成消化道梗阻，出现上腹部剧烈疼痛、呕吐、甚至呕血等症状。

2、柿子皮不能吃。

有的人感到吃柿子的同时咀嚼柿子皮比单吃柿子更有味道，其实这种吃法是不科学的。因为柿子中的鞣酸绝大多数集中在皮中，在柿子脱涩时，不可能将其中的鞣酸全部脱尽，如果连皮一起吃更容易形成胃柿石，尤其是脱涩工艺不完善时，其皮中含的鞣酸更多。

3、不要与含高蛋白的蟹、鱼、虾等食品一起吃。

中医学中，螃蟹与柿子都属寒性食物，故而不能同食。从现代医学的角度来看，含高蛋白的蟹、鱼、虾在鞣酸的作用下，很易凝固成块，即胃柿石。

4、糖尿病人勿食。

柿子中因含10.8％的糖类，且大多是简单的双糖和单糖（蔗糖、果糖、葡萄糖），因此吃后很易被吸收，使血糖升高。对于糖尿病人而言，尤其是血糖控制不佳者更是有害的。

5、吃后不可喝凉水。

相克食物　

1、不宜与鸡蛋、鹅肉、螃蟹、酸菜、黑枣 ( Diaspyros lotus )、甘薯( Ipomoea batatas )、红果 ( Crataegus pinnatifida )共同食。　　

2、食柿子后不可食醋、白酒。　

Cempedak Seeds - A Rare Delicacy

Unknown to most, the seeds of cempedak  ( Artocarpus integer ) is a rare delicacy .  It can be fried, boiled, grilled or toasted and then peeled and eaten as snack.  The taste is similar to chestnut, but less sweet and less fragrant.

It is however less favourable by most people maybe due to the way the seeds are obtained. 

A cempedak fruit is normally sold whole, rarely cut.   It is often consumed fresh straightway, or made into fritters.  Normally,  a fruit contain some 20 – 50 edible arils, so a whole cempedak is usually too much for a person to consume.  Even though keeping for later consumption is possible, but not for very long time, thus a cempedak is often shared with family and friends. 

During a typical cempedak-eating session, friends/family will gather around the cempedak.  Everyone, using their hand will help themselves with the arils.  After consuming the aril, the seeds are discarded.   The seeds are therefore, will be covered by everyone's saliva. 

Or, if one bought some cempedak fritters for own consumption ( to avoid cross-salivation ), the seeds are too few for all the trouble of long hour cooking.  Not economically feasible at all. 

The seeds are of course washed before cooked.  But the fact they were salivated by others impedes some to consume, or having the though to consume the seeds…  ( but the civet coffee are very much sought after.  They don’t have problem paying for a highly priced civet coffee, of which the beans were collected from civet’s feces )( or consuming the expensive ebn from the saliva of swifts birds )

It often require a long time to have the seeds cooked.   Once cooked, the skin had to be painstakingly removed.  And the taste is somehow bland, in contrary to the odorous arils.   

Then, maybe you wander from where I get my cempedak seeds.  Who had salivated them ?  

Well, I can tell you…  I ate the whole fruit myself !